


No Prayers Tonight

by NAOA



Category: Gambit (Comic), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Dark, F/M, Gen, Gritty, New Orleans, No Happy Ending Fest, Thieves Guild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23934829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NAOA/pseuds/NAOA
Summary: On a bad night, a young Remy watches the rules of the Thieves Guild play out and the fall of those that don't make it in the Guild's games.
Kudos: 6





	No Prayers Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this back in high school when I was re-reading a lot of the Fabian Nicieza's Gambit comics from the 90's I think and also reading a lot of Anne Rice, particularly her witch books and I was writing a lot of Gambit fanfiction but this one felt kind of dark and I was skittish about posting it because none of my other Gambit stories felt very dark. I'm still kind off put off by it but I thought I'd post it anyway because it's been something like ten years or so since I wrote it and I don't think it sucks. Oh well, thanks for giving it a shot.

Remy sat with some of the older boys, he liked them, they were smart and the few girls in Fagin's care were beautiful, thin, lean creatures with hard eyes but a small touch of kindness still in their souls. He was only seven but they tolerated him. Today though, they were quiet. They didn't really speak and the three girls were seated in a small knit group in the corner talking quietly among themselves.

One of them, a pretty dark haired girl named Apollona had a bruise across her cheek and eye, she had been hit by her boyfriend, Sean that morning. She looked angry and tearful but he knew she wasn't mad at Sean. The dynamics of the older children were confusing. They were waiting for Fagin to arrive so they could turn over their 'earnings'.

Sean sat across the room with a few other boys shooting furtive looks at Apollona. He looked wild and angry. He was thirteen, almost old enough for his Tithing. That was a big thing. It would mean the Thieves Guild would take him off the street and he could make a real living. He was three days passed his birthday and waiting for Fagin to tell him it was his time. Appollona was the same age and they shared a birthday because they didn't know when their real ones were.

Remy sat on a wooden crate watching the other children. It was night and dark out, Fagin would be there soon. He had a good haul this time. Which wasn't unusual, because he was a better thief than most of the other children but he was antsy to be relieved of it and to leave the warehouse they were meeting in. He could feel that something was going to go badly tonight.

A hushed whispering filtered across the amassed children. He didn't take part in it though. He was content to watch and listen. And anyway, he was worried about Sean and Apollona. He didn't know why they'd fought or what Apollona was mad about because she certainly wasn't mad at Sean. That was the odd thing, Sean had tried shoving her once before and she'd been furious for days but this time he'd full on hit her and she wasn't fuming.

Sean was from the Irish Channel. He'd been stolen as payment when he was two months old and Apollona was from uptown although no one was really sure where. This was just what Fagin had told them.

The door to the ware house opened and Fagin came in grumbling. He cast an eye over the orphans and smoothed his hair back. "Alright, line up and cough-up. Remy hopped down from his crate and grinned as Fagin raised a pleased eyebrow at his deposit. Apollona and the girls handed theirs over and as they returned to their seats she passed Sean and gave him a hurt, teary look. He tried to say something but she whipped her head around and hurried on.

Fagin stopped Sean and held him up until he was last. "Everyone stay where you are." He commanded. "We've got a lesson to learn here." He waved a hand at Sean. "Now everyone knows Sean here, nice dumb Irish kid." He said. "Well, Sean came to me and said he couldn't get the money this morning. He said he'd had to get it another way." There was an uncomfortable pause where every kid knew what he was talking about. Apollona let out a small sob.

Fagin pinched his nose irritably. "Sean, maybe you can tell me why you think you're here?" Sean said nothing, but he clenched his jaw and glared at Fagin. He almost had a man's jaw now. He was growing up. "No? You're here to learn how to be a good thief. So you can join the Thieves Guild. Not the Whores Guild. Understand?"

Sean clenched his growing fists.

"Now can you get it through your dumb, mick skull why you're in trouble?"

In a tight fist Sean held out the money and Fagin pushed it back. "No, I don't want it. I'm supposed to teach you how to be a thief. I can't do that if you're going to sleep around for the money. And not only that, then you got arrested trying to steal a tv and I had to break you out. Do you know how much trouble that was for me?"

Remy caught sight of Apollona's streaming face. She was silently sobbing and hiccuping. He shrank back on his perch. It was a nasty situation and even a boy his age could tell.

Fagin went on. "Sean, because of your stupidity you're now in the police system. The Thieves Guild doesn't want someone who's prints the police have."

Sean opened his mouth, realization dawning on his face. "I got the money though. . ."

Fagin pinched the bridge of his nose again. "No. Don't you understand? You're out. Get out." He jerked his thumb at the door.

"Where am I going to go?" Sean's voice sounded scared, caught between a boy's falsetto and a man's bass.

Fagin looked incredulous, like he didn't understand why the boy would ask him that. "I don't know. That's not my problem anymore. Go to a church, tell them you're an orphan. Tell them your name is Sean Murphy. There are a million Irish kids with that name. They won't ask questions."

Sean's eyes widened. "They'll put me in some kind of foster home." He whispered.

Fagin shrugged. "I don't care."

Apollona sobbed harder and more audibly. One of her girlfriends put a hand on her back. "Shh, it's okay, dear." The girl said.

Sean cast them a wild look, fists still clenched at his sides.

Fagin rubbed his temple. "You have a thick skull don't you? Get out. You're done. There will be no Tithing for you. You're expelled from any hope of joining the Thieves Guild."

The stunned and angry boy began to back out the door, he looked at Apollona miserably and silently begging for her to come to him and in a panic she flung herself on him, sobbing wildly.

Remy retreated further away from the explicit display of misery and pain below him.

"Get off him, you're making a fool of yourself, girl." Fagin groaned.

She clung to Sean who put his arms around her.

"I'm going!" She sobbed. "Oh Sean, I won't let you go alone."

Remy watched, his heart breaking for the two of them. They clung to each other as they backed away. None of the other children said anything, some couldn't even look at them, others watched with unhappy and pitting faces. Sean's friends, a group of older boys all with eyes that had seen too much and hearts that had never been held, watched with clenched fists and jaws squared. Most of them wouldn't pass their tithing and would be shipped off to be construction workers or factory laborers but they were good boys who would become good men. Sean was one of them and Apollona was one of the girls who wold stand by them faithfully.

Remy watched them leave. They ran out into the night, clinging to each other and not knowing where they would go.

His heart was full of hate for Fagin. The man was scratching at his head and acting as though he had had to clean up a mess a dog had made. He snapped at a girl who was saying a prayer, telling her to shut up.

"That's right," Remy thought. "No prayers tonight. Not for Sean and Apollona." He drew away into the shadows and out into the city. He may have been young but on a night as dirty as this one he needed the bright lights of the city to help him forget.


End file.
